News / Fashion
Photo project celebrates second coming of the mullet
Call out for proud Brunswick mullet heads to model for camera
Mark Phillips
JUST when you thought it was safe to return to the hairdresser, mullets are back in fashion.
After falling out of favour in the ‘90s, mullets have enjoyed a revival since the Covid pandemic, as unruly hairstyles that developed during months of lockdown lent themselves to be easily cut and shaped into a short front and sides, long back style.
Now mullets are again a common sight among AFL players, musicians, models and actors – and on the streets of Brunswick.
Brunswick-based photographic artist Carmel Louise is a recent convert after her hairdresser suggested she adopt a mullet when she made her first appointment after the lockdowns ended.
So enamoured is Louise with a hairstyle that has often been mocked and derided that she has begun a project to photograph the mullets of Brunswick for a potential book or exhibition.
Working with fellow photographer David Perez Fernandez, the pair hope to immortalise several dozen mullets on camera over the next few weekends.
They are calling for Brunswick-based mullet heads to volunteer to be models for the project.
“[The mullet is] either reviled or loved,” Louise said.
“And that’s what I love about it is that it will stir up a lot of conversation around it. I just think it’s a really interesting project to do.”
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Mullets had their first wave of popularity in the 1970s and ‘80s when their “business at the front, party at the back” style was worn by people as diverse as pop stars David Bowie and Jon Bon Jovi, actors Jason Donovan and Patrick Swayze, to footballers like Warwick Capper and tennis player Andre Agassi. But they fell out of favour – many thought for good – in the ‘90s.
Their revival took full bloom after the COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Now every AFL and NRL team seems to have at least one player with a mullet, ACTU Secretary Sally McManus sports one, while they are again popular in Hollywood and even on golf courses, where Australian Cameron Smith has led the way.
Louise believes there is also a nostalgia for the aura of rebelliousness that came with the mullet in its 1970s heyday when it had associations with alternative youth culture movements like the sharpies in Melbourne.
“It’s such a different, almost iconic hairstyle, it’s one that you’ll either love or hate and it does polarise people,” she said.
In Louise’s case, a disastrous DIY haircut during lockdown resulted in advice from her hairdresser that the only way to salvage it was to grow it as a mullet. She liked it so much, she has kept it since.
After having her own mullet done by her hairdresser, Louise began to notice more and more people showing off the hairstyle around her Brunswick neighbourhood, particularly by people aged in their late-teens and early-20s. That eventually led to the inspiration for the new photographic project.
She said mullets are now worn with more self-awareness and even a sense of irony than in their heyday. There are now close to a dozen variations of the original mullet.
“I think the mullets these days are a little more stylish. There’s the shag mullet. There’s the shaved mullet. So they’ve developed and evolved from the typical ‘80s mullet.”
Each model for the Brunswick mullet project will be photographed on a Sunday by both photographers in a session which will take about an hour at Louise’s studio in Luscombe Street.
While Perez Fernandez opts for a well-lit studio style of photography, Louise favours a more naturalistic approach.
Louise has recruited almost a dozen models for the first few sessions in the studio but is looking for more.
Some of the models have been recommended by a Brunswick hair stylist who specialises in mullets. One is a two-year-old boy.
“It’s actually surprising at the moment I think I’ve had nine women reply…. So I need some more guys to balance it out. But I’m sure once the advertising gets out there and word of mouth, I’ll get more.”
The first photo shoot sessions will be held this Sunday, August 11. As thanks for their participation, each model will be gifted with a glossy A4 sized print of their photograph.
To be part of the project, mullet wearers can contact Carmel Louise at clouisephotos@gmail.com or by phone on 0425 755 233.
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